Question about 2 sick baby Oscars

LovesLC created the topic: Question about 2 sick baby Oscars

Hi OFL
I posted recently about a sick baby Oscar I obtained that looked like he had severe HITH ( not positive, though, that this is what he has). I have been treating him with Seachem Poly Guard in a makeshift 30G hospital tank.
This fish did have what looked like a sibling in the same tank at the retailer and had what looked like the exact same condition. I initially only took the one fish since I was not really prepared to get even 1 Oscar yet. I have been checking up on the sibling, though, and he/she had gotten worse, with frayed fin and now a hole developed in his tail. Long story short, I took him too.
In my previous post I mentioned that I do have a 200G tank. The plan was to get it running by summer after a room addition is finished. Now that there are 2 Oscars we decided to just make room in our living room so I can get it up and running . We have asked our neighbors (contractors) if they can build a stand.
In the meantime I have some questions..
1. When I brought the sibling home they acted immediately as though they knew each other and have been stuck together like glue. Do Oscars have memories and remember their 'friends'? Or am I being anthropomorphic?

2. Does anybody have experience with Poly Guard? It was recommended but I have not used it before.

3. The Poly Guard says to dose every 3 days, but given that for the time being I have 2 Oscars (babies) in 30G i do water changes daily and have been dosing the replaced water with that amount of Poly Guard. This is not what the directions say, but I really don't want to go 3 days with no water changes. I'm worried about dosing too much doing it this way.

4. I put a 75G rated filter from my cycled 55G on the hospital tank, but removed the carbon from the filter media, leaving the filter pads and ceramic media. Hoping this will not be removing the meds?

5. Is that pointless? Will the meds kill my good bacteria?

6. I keep reading that keeping 2 Oscars is not recommended. That 2 that get along as babies may want to kill each other as adults. This has me worried. These 2 are inseparable right now.

7. With 2 in a 200G would I still have room for a small school of Silver Dollars?

8. Both fish have severe pitting. Should I assume that this damage may never be completely repaired? I guess I'm not sure when to assume that the fish may not ever look completely better, but have had enough of the meds to not get worse ( if that makes sense).

Right now the 2 little guys (or gals) are active, eating well and do not seem stressed. I test the water daily and it always has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and so far the nitrates are so low they barely register (not sure if this is because I possibly killed my cycled media or because of the daily water changes).

Sorry for the extremely long post! I don't want to be a pest.. These are just my first Oscars and I am already very attached to them..
Thanks!

Suprd71 replied the topic: Question about 2 sick baby Oscars

1.. yes Oscars remember former tankmates
2.. no experience with Polyguard, I would go with epsom salt treated food instead.
4.. bio and mechanical media will not harm meds
5. good bacteria is fine
6. Compatibility is always a coin toss, no one can say it will or wont work
7. I believe your tank is 8ft? Yes room for 2 Oscars and 5-7 SD
8.. permanent scarring is a possibility, but harmless..
Keep up the clean water. And do this.. in 1/2 cup of distilled water, dissolve 3/4 tsp of epsom salt. Saturate their normal food in this and feed this only for 5 consecutive days. Beyond that offer a varied quality diet and add some Boyds Vitachem to the mix once a week